Application of Computers in Pharmaceutical and Clinical Studies 347.

critical conditions for immediate nursing attention and enables medical staff to
make accurate judgments of patients progress It further provides data for
CHAPTER 23 research purpose to monitor patients under intensive care.
Hence computers play an important role in communication by acquiring the data
about patient's metabolism and then communicating the same to medical staff by
displaying graphs Detecting critical conditions and generating alarms involve both
Applications of Computers in numerical and logical data processing. This processing helps in giving warning of
cnbcal conditions, enabling the medical staff for proper judgment of patients
Pharmaceutical and Clinical Studies progress, and in the long-term provides data for medical research.

Actually computers controls number of equipments simultaneously to obtain

samples of body fluids and then get them analyzed through auto-analyser for their
physical and chemical parameters.

m
After analysis of parameters "AND or OR" statements indicate logical relationship
where as IF….THEN mark a conditional computation. This combination of logical and

co
23.1 Introduction
conditional data processing enables the patient monitoring system as a decision
Now-a-days computers are used in pharmaceutical industries, hospitals and in making instrument for interpretation of results.

d.
various departments for drug information, education, evaluation, analysis and

rm
medication history and for maintenance of financial records etc. They have become
indispensable in the development of clinical pharmacy, hospital pharmacy and in 23.3 Medication Monitoring
pharmaceutical research. They co-ordinate effective communication and support

ha
To meet the goal of optimum drug therapy, medication is very essential In this case,
clinical and financial management functions prescription of the patient received over a period of time is entered into the computer

np
Effective functioning of any organization largely depends upon continuous flow or data which serves as a chronological drug file of the patient. It helps in suggesting
information, i.e., receiving the Information, storing it, processing it and disseminating it. number of drugs along with their dosage schedule. Computers provide two types of

io
An effective management in f ormation system always provides the needed information.
information in the right form, at the right time and at the right place. Actually each
ut (a) Pharmacokinetic (b) Non-Pharmacokinetic
ol
information of organization is connected with other informations , through
communication channels, thus making organizational entity a decision—making point.
Pharmacokinetic Information :
ev

Computers play an effective role for retrieval of information. In hospitals, data

"NONLIN" is a computer program which can predict pharmacokinetic parameters
R

management involves creating, modifying, adding and deleting data in patient flies to
very easily. These parameters include volume of distribution, bioavailability, rate of
generate reports. Now many doctors for further investigation as they are connected
clearance etc It helps in maintaining dosage schedule of various drugs like
through various personal computers share these reports. Some popular Data Base
antibiotics, aminoglysosides etc.
Management System (DBMS) packages for personal Computer are: Dbase III+ and
Fox Base + Hence, computer help in maintaining overall health care system and this
Non-Pharmacokinetic Information
can be best illustrated by enlisting its applications
It includes various allergic reactions, drug interactions, adverse drug reactions etc.
For such information two computer programmes are available.
23.2 Patient Monitoring
1 . MEDIPHOR (Monitoring and evaluation of drug interactions by a pharmacy
Patients monitoring incudes monitoring of physiological processes in patients such
oriented reporting)
as blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature, etc. This information plays special role in
2 .PAD (Pharmacy Automated drug interaction screening)
detection and prevention of critical condioons in patients, It helps in giving warning of
 BiostatIstics and Computer Applications
Application of Computers in Pharmaceutical and Clinical Studies 351

The developments of powerful computers offer opportunity for improved viewing

manages the hospital systems and allows the p harmacists to check the work
and interpretation in radiology department. In this many of the latest imaging
Software is available for the pharmacist to provide professional services and to
techniques such as Computerized Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance
automate the technical staff This will ultimately result in efficient and cost effective
Imaging (MR1) are inherently digital. In this, computer creates a "functional image" by
operation and will further maximize clinical and patient oriented functions of
performing complex calculations on measured data pharmacists

23.8 Pharmaceutical Education 23.11 Patient Counselling

Computer-aided instructions help in improving the shortcomings of traditional Computers play an important role in in-patient counseling. Sophisticated software is
teaching methods. They provide a medium for interactive learning offer immediate available to educate patients by giving patient education leaflets. These leaflets
student-specific feedback. Support individuals tailored instructions finally form a basis provide information about name of medication, its uses, side-effects, precautions,
for objective testing. drug interactions, missed dose, storage, how to take the medication etc.
It should always be kept in mind that computer program should be an intelligent
23.9 Hospital Pharmacy and Retail Pharmacy

m
one so that it should not affect adversely by giving too much or too less of the
information to patent

co
Computers are used in pharmacies to maintain accessible, legible and up-to-date
medication records. They help in keeping overall patient care by maintaining their

d.
records, consumption of drugs, registration numbers and detailed records of 23.12 Drug Interactions
accounts and purchase section. Even for retail pharmacist, computers have been of

rm
Pharmacists cannot remember each and every medication, its therapeutic usage, its
valuable assistance in the prescription processing, It includes display of computer
effects and drug interactions_ Therefore computers offer knowledge base systems to
information about patient and drug, its adverse drug reaction, causation, duplication

ha
extend our professional services. Computerized pharmacy can alert physician(
of orders, labeling conditions etc.
pharmacist for serious drug-drug, drug-food and drug-disease interactions, which are

np
Following are the other applications in hospital and retail pharmacy likely to occur in prescription. Examples of such database and online services are
 MEDLINE, IDIS and pharmline.

io
Calculation of monthly gross income
 Generating pay slips
 Updating the employee information ut 23.13 Community Pharmacy


ol
Placement of supply order - Computers help in streamlining refilling of prescriptions. It has terminated the long-

ev

standing problem and waiting in a queue for refilling of prescription It has been
Keeping track of total payment and amount due to supplier

becoming popular because it reminds the patient for refilling and compliance of
R

Checking the quality and quantity of hospital supplies recorded and medication These systems not only help in filling of individual prescriptions but in
identifying any discrepancies processing the prescription in a right manner. It also enables to manage inventory,
 Recording purchases for accounting purposes. sales, accounts, etc., in community pharmacy,
A number of computer programs have been developed to assist physicians in
dosing and scheduling drug. But there are certain drugs, which are extremely 23.14 Drug Information Services
sensitive to certain patients. For such patient's physicians use computer programs tti
Various software, Internet. Intranet and online services are available for the
forecast drug levels and to choose the amounts and schedule of drug doses that Will pharmacist to provide drug information service to medical, paramedical professional
achieve target level. Similarly 'HELP' is a system, which identifies abnormal and patients Computer—aided drug design helps the chemist to formulate a new drug
chemistry levels, concurrent diseases and other related patient conditions. molecule possessing desired therapeutic action. These new drug entities can be
generated through graphics and by changing molecular configuration'. CD-ROM
23.10 Hospital Setting technology has helped a lot in the evolution of compact electronic libraries. Various

Duties of the pharmacist have been changing tremendously and hence it has software programs of different companies are listed here.
become impossible to remember and to recheck everything. Therefore, computer
 348 Blostatistics and Computer Apptications Application of Computers in Pharmaceutical and Clinical Studies 349

 Over/under stocking

23.4 Maintenance of Records
Venous records like patient's medication history. current treatment and fin3ncial Slow moving/Fast moving items
records etc , are maintained in computers by feeding accurate data as 'DATA' is a  Expired drugs
collection of facts and computer works as a DATA BASE' manager MEDLINIE is a
data base package used for such purpose It gives the current information of pa- bents 23.6 Data Storage and Retrieval
regarding their name, age. sex, room number, weight, allergic reaction etc "Itese
records are stored in a 'FILE like "Physician name" file, "Direction" file, 'Drug Hospital administration computer helps in rapid data storage and retrieval,
-
Interaction" file etc Now these files contain specific information like physman's particularly when the data stored is subjected Infrequent changes and when group of
name, registration number, phone number, address, etc. and provide such items based on the stored data need to be retneved. Admission of M-patients and
informaton whenever required their discharge from a hospital require data, which gets changed every minute, e g.,
admission of in-patient ties up resources like clinical and nursing staff, a bed,

m
23.5 Materials Management
operation theatre, Intensive care unit, pharmacy department, radiological services etc.
Computers play vdal role in material planning, purchasing, inventory control and Hence decision to admit a new patient is not a simple one. Even the availability of

co
forecasting pnces. Inventory control is very essential because it maintains the a suitable bed is difficult to determine in male and female ward, isolation ward etc A
balance between stock-in-hand and excessive capital investment. Techniques such as prediction must be made that a suitable bed will be available at future date because d
ABC analysis and EDO can be easily programmed It will eliminate the tedious and

d.
the estimation is over optimistic, then patients who are called in, may be tumed away
time-consuming task of calculations. Computers are used to detect the items, which at the last minute. If the prediction is over pessimist c expensive resources lie idle
had attained minimum order level It then prepares a list and purchase orders for

rm
and the waiting period for treatment is extended.
further supplies Generally there are Iwo systems for inventory control. Once the patient gets admitted, computer records and stores information like
For Penodic inventory control clinical information, catering information, diagnosis, sex, medication etc. It helps in

ha
(b) Perpetual system providing detailed information about medical and paramedical staff including their
(a) Periodic Inventory Control System : In this system stock levels are clocked duty chart It helps the senior personnel to keep a check on ward-by-ward loading of
nursing staff and to allocate additional help whenever required
manually and the amount of inventory in hand is compared with minimur6 and

np
maximum stock maintained in the computers. Computers help in placemcnt of
order to different suppliers after checking their terms and conditions becaule all 23.7 Diagnostic Laboratories
the entries of stocks are present in iL
io
(b) Perpetual System : In this system computer tells about the present positim of
all the drugs because when they are received, they are entered in the nitial
Computers meet the growing demand for testing laboratories as manual procedures
were lengthy and time consuming whereas automated computerized instruments
ut
perform a number of tasks with accuracy in diagnostic laboratories. Generally LIS
stocks to get the current stocks When the drugs are delivered to values (Laboratory Information System) is used to manage large amount of data_ In this,
departments the quantities are subtracted accordingly Such type of add.;ionS
ol
instruments Contain preprocessors, which convert raw data into digital format and
and deletions from inventory balance is done with the help of "data t ase" help in transmitting numerical values for report generation. LIS also performs
package
ev

administrative and managerial function, including specimen tracking, product analysis


The information as output from the computer may be obtained in venous brms like. and quality control. Similarly many instruments have microprocessors that facilitate all
Planning of material phases of testing processes, including calibration of instrument till reporting of

R

Drugs formulary reSults.

 Vendor detail for procurement
 Tender rate and analysis
 Determination of 500Pending supply orders


Inventory analysis


Records points
Safety stocks
 Ledger for narcotics